Bangladesh, Sept. 24 -- World leaders have gathered once again in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where speeches resound with lofty commitments to international law, human rights, and the protection of vulnerable populations. Yet just beyond the echo of those promises lies a humanitarian catastrophe that exposes the hollowness of such declarations. The plight of the Rohingya, one of the most persecuted communities of our time, demonstrates that the global refugee protection system is crumbling in plain sight.

Seven years have passed since Myanmars military launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State. What began as a series of coordinated massacres, mass rap...